There are now nine boats in the harbor here, waiting for the big seas and winds to calm down. All but two are headed south to Panama for the summer. We have been enjoying our island respite, with a bus ride all around the island, then a wonderful dinner on Isla Santa Catalina at the Bamboo Restauraunt, who prepared Rondón (sometimes spelled rundown) for the entire fleet. Is is a kind of stew, with conch, pigtails, potatoe, yucca, namé, plantain and dumplings all stewed in coconut milk. They prepared it the traditional way, in big pots over an open fire. Very Yummy. It was huge, Sharon and I were the only members of the clean plate club amongst the 25 or so people there, which included a couple families on vacation from Bogota, Colombia. We scored extra points with the cook by even eating our pig tails!! Of course, neither of us could move after being such gluttons. Eneid, the owner, arranged for a local band for entertainment, featuring a female singer (but everyone sang anyway), maracas, a guitar, a mandolin; a bass made from an inverted washtub, stick and string; and a horse jaw - that sounded like someone playing a washboard, but with many tones instead of just a single tone. They did a few traditional songs, but mostly Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff stuff, which is exceedingly popular here.

We also rented a jeep for the day and did a little more exploring, driving up a dirt track to the dam that they use for a drinking water impound, and nosing around side streets not on the bus route. The yacht agent (required by Colombia for foreign flagged vessels) Mr. Bush had recommended we eat at Divino Nino restaurant on south west bay, so we did. We ordered the 40,000 peso ($20) mixed seafood platter for two people, and shared it among four of us - had leftovers! They run horse races on this beach, and there was a jockey practicing with a very high spirited filly, racing up and down the narrow sand beach between the water and the coconuts, thundering by several times during our meals.

The weather and seas are threatening to calm down on Monday, so we plan to check out on Monday afternoon and continue the northerly journey on Tuesday, if all goes well.That is pretty far out to get an accurate weather reports, so we may change our plan; but only time will tell!